


Salvation if we make it (and our souls if we get caught)

by PieWritesFics



Category: One Piece
Genre: Ace isn't born yet but he is definitely present and viable so, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Baterilla is its own warning, Gen, Off-Screen Murder, Portgas D. Rouge Lives, Portgas D. Rouge is a pirate, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, drunken teenaged pirates who have excellent reasons to be drunk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:54:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23529487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PieWritesFics/pseuds/PieWritesFics
Summary: Inspired by this part of stereden's chapter 24 update to Watashitachi wa Roger kaizoku desu (we still stand proud):(And now he can’t help but wonder - Rouge extended her pregnancy by eleven months . Ace had been born a full fifteen months after Roger’s death. If Rouge had died on Baterilla, if she hadn’t left it at all during all that time… then she had still been there, alive and pregnant, when Shanks and Buggy had followed the rumours and arrived too late to do anything but help the locals bury their too many deads. If they had known, if they had seen her - how would things have turned out?)
Relationships: Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks & Buggy, Gol D. Roger/Portgas D. Rouge
Comments: 68
Kudos: 445





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stereden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stereden/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Watashitachi wa Roger kaizoku desu (we still stand proud)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14884211) by [stereden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stereden/pseuds/stereden). 



> This fic is specifically gifted to stereden, as a small thanks for all the amazing writing they've given us in their many stories! Somehow, stereden, reading your updates always inspires me to write a little bit myself. This time it was just a little more direct ;)
> 
> I pumped this out in literally one day, and I'm actually ridiculously pleased with it since it's the most I've written on any one thing in a few weeks. For everyone in quarantine, no matter where you are in the world (but especially you, stereden!) I hope this makes your day a little brighter and I've done it at least some justice.

**_Our ship we crest a giant wave_ **

**_And crashed to the trough below_ **

**_And the crew held on to what they could_ **

**_They were damned if they let go_ **

**_The rain and sea and storm winds_ **

**_Crashed against our ship with wrath_ **

**_And from the deck of that cursed ship_ **

**_We could hear them laugh_ **

( _The Flying Dutchman_ ~ The Jolly Rogers)

* * *

They are fifteen.

They are fifteen and their ~~_(father)_ ~~ captain is dead, and their crew is disbanded and they are alone.

~~_(They left them they left them they are alone they are being hunted they left them--)_ ~~

They are fifteen and they have been _( ~~alone)~~ _ on their own together with their crazy ship for a year (because Speed _had_ to be crazy, crazy and vicious and protective, they’d have been dead more than ten times over if she wasn’t) and they have heard a rumor.

They are fifteen and they are _~~(abandoned)~~ _ on their own and they have heard a rumor that their ~~_(father)_ ~~ captain had had a child-- a child the Navy wants dead.

Buggy and Shanks are fifteen and they are headed to an island called Baterilla, in their crazy ship, chasing a rumor while running from their ~~_(father’s)_ ~~ captain’s enemies that are hunting them down. Because it doesn’t matter if the rumor is right, because people are being hurt in their captain’s ~~_(father’s)_ ~~ name, because the Marines are _hunting an innocent child who never did anything except being born to a man they were fucking terrified of even after his head hit the ground_ (and fuckfuck _fuck_ that hurt to remember at all, the sound echoing--)

Shanks and Buggy are fifteen and chasing a rumor while being hunted, because they are children who have been forced to grow up too soon too fast, because they feel _fucking responsible_ for the people being hurt, because they are intimately familiar with being an easy target for someone with a vendetta against a dead man who was larger than life itself. _( ~~Fuck Tavernier and the rest, seriously.)~~ _

They are fifteen and they are chasing a rumor, because if it _is_ true, if their _(father)_ captain had a kid on that island in South Blue, they will _never forgive themselves_ if they don’t try.

(They are fifteen and they are chasing a rumor, because if it _is_ true, they are going to do better for that kid than the Roger Kaizoku have done for them, because they are fifteen and they have seen their ~~_(father’s)_ ~~ captain’s head hit the ground and they have grown up too fast too soon and they swear on the Sea that if they get there in time they _fucking refuse_ to repeat the mistakes of the adults that abandoned them when they were supposed to protect them.)

**…**

They arrive too late.

* * *

Shanks is slumped against a tree with Captain’s hat covering his eyes and a bottle of cheap booze clutched in his hand. He’s not asleep, not even close, not when every time he closes his eyes all he can see is little bodies in little graves and families torn apart and an entire island of people who _will never be the same again after this_ (he takes a few more gulps at the thought).

They’d gotten there too late, after the Marines had already left, when the only thing left to do was bury the dead. (He didn’t know what they would have done, what they _could_ have done, if they had gotten to Baterilla earlier, while the slaughter was still going on, but _damn it all_ , they could have done _something!_ ) Shanks and Buggy had spent the last three weeks covered in earth and sweat and helping anywhere they could. Every time someone thanked them felt like a punch to the gut, and the next time someone told them it wasn’t their fault Shanks _swore_ he was going to puke all over their shoes from the guilt roiling in his stomach. ~~(It had nothing at all to do with the shitty alcohol he’d been drinking like water since they got here,~~ ~~_shut up_ _Buggy._~~ ~~)~~ It was why they were out here, in a small clearing in the woods away from town. To get away from gratitude they didn’t deserve from people who were made to suffer in their ~~_(father’s)_ ~~ captain’s memory.

A gloved hand plucked the bottle from his fingers, and Shanks let out a noise of tipsy protest. Buggy snorted, shook his head, and took a swig himself. He hadn’t had near as much as Shanks, mostly because his alcohol tolerance wasn’t anywhere near as high. He hated how the stuff dulled his senses, slowed his reaction times-- they couldn’t afford for _both_ of them to be sloshed, but even Buggy had to admit that the buzz helped, for a while. 

“What’re we gon’ do, Bug?” Shanks slurs quietly after a moment staring at the inside of his straw hat. Because he really has no idea, and he’s drunk, and Buggy is better at planning and strategy and that shit anyway.

A deep sigh answers him, the kind that comes from being exhausted down to your bones and knowing you had to keep going. Green eyes stare hard at the bottle in his hand, as if the answer would rise up like a bottle in the ocean. Staying here was out; the locals wouldn’t have a problem with it, likely, but the guilt and constant reminders would shred Buggy and Shanks from the inside, and Captain’s other enemies would catch up eventually ( _fucking Tavernier--!_ ). 

They weren’t made for land anyway. They were Children of the Sea, of Davy Jones-- staying on land was counter to everything they were, all they were made of. So, no, they couldn’t stay. They would help with the gravedigging and the funerals and the repairs, and then they would climb aboard the Red Speed and head out to sea, probably significantly less sober than when they’d arrived. Where they would go from there was the question.

Buggy took another sip while he thought, letting his Haki spread out like he deliberately hadn’t since they had come in range of Baterilla and he had been slammed by the _fear_ **_grief_ ** _anger_ of the people and Buggy had been so overwhelmed by it he’d fallen to the deck and fucking sobbed. It was still _awful_ , still there, but almost a month of lower-sensitivity exposure meant Buggy didn’t feel like he’d suddenly dropped a boulder of other people’s emotions directly onto his lungs. They were far enough into the woods that most of what he was sensing was animals, but there was one Voice, strong and clear and even deeper into the forest, that was _familiar_ for all Buggy couldn’t place it.

And that? That was _weird,_ because he knew who it _wasn’t_ (wasn’t any of the Roger Kaizoku, didn’t set his hackles rising and his instincts screaming to escape like Tavernier and his lot, and it was too strong to be any of the townspeople he and Shanks had met) and he found himself lowering the bottle and standing up and kicking Shanks in the leg until the other boy was doing the same.

Because Buggy didn’t know who that Voice belonged to, but he did _recognize_ it, and considering why they were there in the first place, that meant it ought to be investigated. 

* * *

One very unpleasant hike later, the owner of the Voice was apparently just as flabbergasted to see the two of them as they were to see her.

_“You!!”_ Buggy screeched, pointing dramatically at the obviously pregnant pirate captain. (If he had been any less tired, or any more sober, he would not have pointed. Because it was rude, and she was terrifying, but he wasn’t, and he did.)

“Cap’n Rouge?” Shanks was wide-eyed, gaze bouncing from her face to her belly and back again, his alcohol-washed brain clearly having issues processing what he was seeing. “What’re you doin’ here?”

Rouge sputtered-- _sputtered!_ “What am _I_ doing here? What are _you two_ doing here?!” She paused, squinting suspiciously at the redhead swaying slightly on his own feet. “Shanks, are you drunk?”

“ _Pft,_ nooo!” Behind him, Buggy was pointing in his direction and nodding emphatically, exaggeratedly mouthing the words _‘drunk as a skunk.’_ Shanks didn’t notice.

The woman sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose in a no doubt futile attempt to stave off her impending headache. “Get the hell in my house, you brats. We need to have a talk.”

* * *

Talk, they do. It’s not short, or pleasant, and the captain of the Blackjack Pirates confiscates their shared bottle of shitty alcohol within the first ten minutes. (Buggy had been taking small swigs, so he’d have an excuse to talk less, but Shanks had decided that he wanted the bottle back and had grabbed for it but was still intoxicated enough his aim was shit, and they ended up tussling on Blackjack Rouge’s livingroom floor with Buggy shamelessly exploiting his devil fruit to gain the advantage. The woman had _cheated,_ really-- and after he separated his hand from the rest of them to keep the booze from spilling on her rug! Dumping the rest down the sink was equally uncalled for, so it was her own fault she had to deal with them both pouting about it.)

They got the basics out of the way first: Yes, she was pregnant. Yes, the baby was Roger’s. No, she was not telling them the story, no matter how much they looked at her like that. Yes, the boys were here because of the rumors, and yes they’d been helping the people in town, yes they were here on their own and no the other Roger Kaizoku were not with them and probably were not terribly likely to show up.

That last part led to the perfectly valid question of _why_ , which was not a topic either teen wanted to discuss but they had to ~~(and, incidentally, Shanks rather wished for some more booze at that moment thank-you.)~~

“They _left you?_ ” Rouge hissed, after getting the rough version of what they had gone through the last year or so.

“Yup,” Buggy said flatly, stuffing the emotions attached to that answer into a box to deal with later. (Because he was not going to have a breakdown in front of Captain Blackjack D. Rouge, _he was not._ )

“They _fucking left_ you. Alone. In the _New World._ ” Buggy nearly snarks back, because _yes, he’d just said that, rub it in why don’t you,_ when it hits him that _oh._ Oh, she is angry. Possibly even _furious_ . Not at them, though-- not at Buggy for coping by being a wise-ass, not at Shanks for being respectably drunk on her couch and still staring at her abdomen like it was going to spontaneously grow teeth and bite him on the nose, _but on their behalf_. And that… that was different. 

It was… actually kinda nice, for once, and Buggy honestly wasn’t sure what to do with it. 

Rouge inhales through her nose, holds it for ten seconds, then slowly exhales through her clenched teeth. (Oh yes, _definitely_ furious, Buggy notes.) “Alright. Well, it _isn’t_ alright, and I am going to be having _words_ with Silvers Rayleigh at some point, but first things come first. The Marines have left the island?”

The boys nod, Shanks a few times extra and looking a bit like a bobble-head.

“You two have a ship?”

More nodding.

“Then get us out of here,” Rouge says solemnly, one hand over the little life growing in her belly, “and I swear by Davy Jones, there will be a safe place for you both with me and mine for as long as you want it.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roughly eleven years after the first chapter. In the aftermath of Shanks loosing his arm, feelings are discussed, Marine encounters are avoided, and someone has to go check on Luffy. 
> 
> (Ace thinks all of this would be much easier if they just brought Luffy to live with them. He might get his wish.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
> 
> This has been in the works pretty much since I posted the first part, but I wasn't sure if I was gonna make it a separate fic or just do this. Fun fact, I have two more pages written but haven't worked out the rest. I finally decided it wasn't doing any good just sitting in my docs, so have this much at least!

**_A schooner sat at bay while the crew all ran amok_ **   
**_The men they gathered on the pier to see if they were stuck_ **   
**_They shouted to the ship "Why are you still here in dock?"_ **   
**_'Cuz the Captain got his knackers caught in the mainsheet block._ **   
  
**_I've seen old women blush from the tales that sailors told_ **   
**_Of bawdy, ribald adventures some new ones and some old_ **   
**_Scandalous journeys that they've taken some long and some short_ **   
**_But the worst one that I heard of was a ship stuck in port_ **

_Ship Stuck in Port_ by The Jolly Rogers

* * *

“I’m sorry,” Buggy said with a calm he didn’t actually have, “would you care to repeat that? Because I thought you said that you  **_LOST YOUR FUCKING ARM TO A SEAKING!”_ **

The snail had the audacity to look sheepish. “I, er, did,” Shanks’ voice replied, and Buggy wasn’t even ashamed to admit that he was shaking. “There wasn’t any time, Luffy would have-- But I’m _ fine, _ Bug, really! Doc’s fixed me up good, no complications.”

_ “I’ll give you a complication,” _ Buggy hissed darkly, shoving his emotions at  _ just how fucking close he’d come to loosing Shanks _ away for later. (Because Ace was in the room and the kid had stopped practicing on the unicycle Cabaji had gotten him to stare at the den den mushi in ashen-faced horror, and  _ dammit, _ Buggy  _ hated _ being a responsible adult!) “Where are you?”

“Ridfield,” Shanks answers, “‘m on too many painkillers to wrangle a seaking through the Calm Belt... or deal with Crocus.”

Buggy snorts, because  _ fair. _ “We’ll meet you there. Now tell Ace you’re fine so he’ll stop looking like he’ll keel over in a slight breeze.”

The snail drains of color. “Oh. Oh,  _ shit, _ Ace is-- Ace, buddy, I’m fine, no need to worry kiddo!”

“You’re  _ not fine! _ You lost an arm, you MORON!” Ace snaps, because he’s sensible and also Buggy’s favorite. The ten-year-old pedaled over, glaring at the snail. “You better do  _ everything _ Damian and Benn say, Shanks! I’ll find out if you don’t!”

The snail gulped. “Right-o.” There was a bit of a pause before Shanks’ voice came again, hesitantly. “I don’t suppose we could hold off on telling Rouge about this...?”

Ace twitched, hopping off his unicycle and making his footsteps deliberately loud enough to be heard by the snail as he tromped to the door.  _ “Moooom!” _ he yelled as he opened it, half directing his voice back towards the den-den before going through, _ “MOM, _ GUESS WHAT SHANKS DID!” As the sound of the boy’s running footsteps faded, the snail began to sweat profusely.

“Ooooh,” Buggy said with not an ounce of sympathy, “you’re in  _ trouble. _ ”

* * *

It takes three days to get to Ridfield, and Ace’s Voice is a mess the whole journey. He’s quiet and incredibly focused on his training, and he’s  _ clingy. _ Granted, Ace’s version of clingy is not most children’s version of clingy, but the whole crew can see the way he perches on Richie’s head and  _ watches, _ the way he leans into his mother, the way he makes excuses to keep Buggy in his sights. 

The second day, Buggy decides that enough is enough, and he’s going to have to talk about  _ feelings _ with him. Because he’s the  _ captain, _ and he has to be  _ responsible, _ and Rouge is just as agitated as her son about all this and he just _ knows _ she won’t be able to relax until she sees Shanks with her own two eyes  _ because Buggy can’t either. _

(Because, sometime in the years since Buggy and Shanks found her on Baterilla, they had gone from being _Roger’s_ _boys_ to joining Ace in collectively being _Rouge’s_ _boys._ And now one of her boys is missing an arm, and it won’t surprise Buggy in the least if she gets a location and description of the culprit out of Shanks and they end up having seaking barbeque for dinner within the month.)

He waits until mid-afternoon, just after Ace sends his last throwing knife at the target (it hits, just like the others, because  _ of course it does, _ who do you think taught the kid to use them?) to call him to his cabin, making sure the boy knows he’s not in trouble. There’s a bowl of fruit Buggy’s nabbed from the kitchen, and a fresh pot of chamomile tea on the chance this becomes one of those talks where staying hydrated and calm are both important.

“What did you wanna talk about?” Ace asks, and,  _ yup, _ there’s the anxiety.

“Shanks,” Buggy answers bluntly, knowing the direct approach always worked best with him. “Sit, help me eat all this fruit. And while we eat, we can talk about how we  _ feel _ about this.”

Ace’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, but he took a seat and some cantaloupe anyway. “Why?”

“Because it’s healthy. Or something.”  _ Dammit, _ Shanks was better at this. “Look, it’s better to give voice to feelings after something like this, or it comes out at the worst times. Trust me. So, it’s either we talk about it to each other, man to man, or we both talk to your mother.”

(Because the captain of the Blackjack Pirates, even retired, had always been a great many things, but a therapist was  _ not _ one of them. Also, she was on par with Ace as far as her stakes in Shanks’ well-being, Buggy beating them both out on account of  _ reasons. _ This meant Buggy was already planning on getting  _ piss drunk _ with Rouge over this later; adding a sober conversation with her son would also give them more to commiserate on while inebriated, but the kid didn’t need to know that.)

Ace scowled, or maybe pouted; it was hard to tell. “Fine.”

“Good,” Buggy said. “So. What are you feeling?”

The kid shrugged at the piece of melon he was holding, and Buggy suppressed a sigh. He should have known it wouldn’t be that easy; Ace wasn’t the best at expressing himself on a  _ good _ day, never mind over something like this.

He took a long sip of tea, praising his own foresight and knowing he would be needing more before this conversation was over. “Alright. I’ll start.” Buggy took a deep breath. “I am… angry. I want to  _ shake _ Shanks for being so careless as to get caught by a seaking, of all things! I mean seriously, where does he get off! He goes toe-to-toe with  _ Hawkeye Mihawk, _ but loses an arm to a flashily glorified piece of sushi?! What the hell, am I right?!”

When he glances at Ace, the boy’s eyes are wide in his freckled face, just staring for a second. “Y… yeah,” Ace says quietly. Then, louder, “Yeah! What the hell!”

As an aside, Buggy adds, “Don’t tell your mother I let you swear.”

“‘Kay.” The kid reaches for the fruit bowl again.

“Good. Now, where was I?”

_ “Ang’y,” _ Ace reminds him around a mouthful of grapes.

“Right, I’m angry. Do you know  _ why _ I’m angry, Ace?” He drinks some more tea, giving the kid a chance to think about it.

“Er,” he says, the way his eyebrows scrunch together showing that he’s putting genuine effort into the answer. “Because… because it was careless? And Shanks is hurt badly because of it, and because he should’ve known better?”

“Close,” Buggy tells him, “all of that is true, and you’re right, it does make me angry. But mostly… Mostly, I’m angry because while an arm is a lot, it will heal. I’m angry because it could have easily been  _ more _ than an arm. We could have  _ lost _ Shanks, and I wouldn’t have been able to help him, wouldn’t have even known about it until one of the Akagami called. And that fucking terrifies me, kid.”

Because  _ losing Shanks is Buggy’s biggest fear. _ They’d gotten separated once, when they were teenagers-- Tavernier’s fault, the asshole --and enacted their emergency plan of meeting up on Tortoise Island, at the bar run by the retired Blackjack Pirates. It had been in the middle of a storm, and it took almost two months for them both to get there. Two months of not knowing if the other had survived the storm, or been captured alone by an enemy and killed in a worse way since.

Those were the worst two months of Buggy’s life, and he thanked Davy Jones that they’d planned where to meet if they got separated in advance; who knew how long it would have taken them to find each other again if they hadn’t, if Rouge’s words that day on Baterilla hadn’t rooted into their brains and hearts.

( _ “ _ _ I swear by Davy Jones, there will be a safe place for you both with me and mine for as long as you want it.” _ Maybe, just maybe he and Shanks had saved Rouge and Ace that day, by getting them out, by taking them home to the rest of the Blackjacks. Personally, Buggy is of the firm opinion that the three, and then four of them, had ended up saving each other.)

He takes another, long sip of tea while Ace processes that, because dammit, he needs the calm right now. Some people would say it was uncalled for, bringing attention to the small fact that Shanks  _ could have fucking died on them _ to a kid just into the double-digits, that he  _ hadn’t _ so there was no need to make Ace think about it if he wasn’t already.  _ Some people _ were  _ morons. _ For all he “officially” lived on Tortoise Island, Ace’s home was the sea. He wanted to be a pirate when he grew up, like his mother had been, like Buggy and Shanks were, wanted to sail around and gather nakama and make it so the entire world knew his name on  _ his own _ terms, not because his father was the World Government’s boogeyman. This meant that Ace needed to learn to think about consequences, and that sometimes those consequences might include  _ dying incredibly stupid deaths! _

After a long silence, Buggy hears Ace’s reply. It’s quiet, barely a whisper, and choked from the lump the kid no doubt has in his throat, but the words are clear. “Me too. I-- it scared me, too.” Ace bites his lip a little too hard, and Buggy can see the tears he’s fighting to hold back in the dim light. “And, I got m-mad, too. Because-because I don’t wanna lose any of you. Shanks, or you, or-or Mom…”

Ace is trying to be strong, trying not to cry. He’s always hated crying, but he  _ needs _ to now, the way he needed naps as a toddler and fought them every step of the way. He needed to let it out. (Buggy would know-- he needed to cry about this too, but he wouldn’t be having that particular breakdown until he and Shanks were together on Ridfield.)

Buggy wants to tell him it’s alright, that he can cry about this, but verbally acknowledging it would just upset Ace more. Instead, he casually detaches one of his hands to rub Ace’s back in circles and tells him to drink some of the tea because it helps. They sit like that for a few minutes, and Buggy waits for Ace to finish his cup before speaking again, pouring them both a refill while Ace rubbed away the tear-tracks that Buggy pretended not to see.

“It does help,” Ace mumbled, staring into his tea when his cup is handed back.

“It really does,” Buggy agreed. “So. What else? I know that’s not all of it, Ace.”

“I--” The kid goes to argue, but Buggy raises an eyebrow--  _ literally _ \--and he deflates. “I just… Is it…” Ace gives a frustrated sigh, drinks some of his tea with a loud slurp, then tries again. “I’m mad at Shanks. Because he was a dumbass and he scared us and almost died a stupid death. But, I mean… Is it…  _ okay _ … to not be mad at Luffy?”

Well. That was not what Buggy had been expecting. “At Luffy?”

The kid nodded. “‘Cause… ‘cause Shanks went in the water to get Luffy, ‘cause Luffy ate Shanks’ Devil Fruit and he sinks like a hammer. But-but it wasn’t  _ Luffy’s fault _ he was in the water, it was that shitty bandit that kidnapped him! It’s  _ his _ fault Shanks lost his arm, not Luffy’s! So-- so it’s okay to not be mad at Luffy, right?”

Even though this was an angle that hadn’t even crossed Buggy’s mind, it was clear that it had been bothering Ace for a while. “Yes,” Buggy told him. “Yes to everything you said, kid. It is  _ very okay _ to not be mad at Luffy. I encourage it, even.” In fact, it wouldn’t surprise Buggy one bit if Luffy were blaming himself for Shanks’ idiocy. The thought made him groan--  _ Dammit, _ he was going to have to  _ check _ on the brat. Shanks was going to owe him  _ so much _ for this. “Luffy is a child who is not responsible for the stupidity of the adults around him, only for his own stupidity.”

Ace seemed relieved at that. “Like how I’m not responsible for any of the stuff my dad did?” he asked, drawing the parallel to the talk he’d gotten every time some drunken lout had spouted off government propaganda about Roger in his ear-shot.

“Exactly like that,” Buggy agreed, once again glad they’d all nipped  _ that _ in the bud early on. Kid had enough problems with emotions, he didn’t need unwarranted self-esteem issues and a guilt complex on top of it. “Anything else that’s been bothering you, kiddo?”

The boy considered this, taking another, smaller sip of his tea while he thought. “I don’t think so? I mean, I wanna see Shanks, and  _ sit on him _ to make sure he can’t do anything stupid again, but… I can’t think of anything else right now.”

The pirate nodded. “Well, if you do think of anything, you come to me and we’ll talk again. That doesn’t just mean this, I mean any time something bothers you and you think it might help to talk about it, okay?”

“Yeah.” Ace was quiet for a moment, just staring at the teacup in his lap, before he looked up with a smile. “Hey Buggy.”

“What is it?”

Ace grinned, the one that used his whole face and felt like sunshine when he turned it on you no matter what the weather was. “You’re a really great big brother!”

They spent the next half-hour finishing the fruit and the tea, and Buggy would deny until his dying day that the first minute of that half-hour was spent  _ literally _ putting himself back together after that declaration. (Before the half-hour was up, he would muss Ace’s hair and pull him into a hug, and Buggy would tell Ace that he was a pretty great little brother, too.)

* * *

When they emerged from Buggy’s cabin, Ace found his mother on deck and gave her a swift hug before running off to find Richie. To her credit, Rouge just smiled at her son’s more relaxed demeanor and sent Buggy a look that suggested she knew exactly what he’d done and was grateful for it. 

“Good tea?” she asked.

“Yup.”

* * *

The first thing Ace did upon their arrival at Ridfield was check in with Damian to make sure he had permission, and would not aggravate Shanks’ injuries further. (Kid had a healthy respect for medical professionals, which had stemmed directly from growing up sharing living space with Earth-Fist Tsunade and her moderately-less-terrifying apprentice, Shizune.) The second thing the boy did was tackle Shanks and  _ absolutely refuse  _ to be moved from the red-haired man’s lap, because clearly he needed watching and _ by the Sea, _ Ace was going to be the one to do it!

“You’re not allowed to do that  _ ever again,” _ he growls.

“Don’ worry kiddo,” Shanks tells him, holding him with his remaining arm and still looped on painkillers, “I don’ intend to.”

Rouge is glaring at him, giving off the impression that she’d be dragging Shanks by his ear in other circumstances. “You had  _ better _ not.”

The red-head gulped. “Yes ma’am.”

Buggy was quiet, at least verbally speaking. His Haki had wrapped itself around Shanks like a weighted blanket the minute he’d gotten close enough, giving off clear impressions of  _ are you alright--I was worried--don’t ever fucking do that again--I am here--I love you--you’re a fucking moron, _ and Shanks loves his nakama but there’s nothing that quite reaches the level of soothing that having his  _ family _ there when he was injured could achieve.

* * *

“So, when are we getting Luffy?”

Shanks blinked. “Eh?”

Ace gave an aggravated sigh, the one that said he thought Shanks was being particularly thick. “Luffy.  _ When. _ Are. We.  _ Getting him. _ You know-- from Fuusha?”

The red-head had not expected this question, and the painkillers weren’t helping his brain work through it even a little bit. “Uh.”

Next to him on the bed the three of them had crammed into, Buggy snorted. “You don’t shut up about the little brat, and you pretty much adopted him; I really don’t know what you expected, Shanks.”

“Luffy can’t live on a  _ pirate _ ship!” the redhead exclaimed finally.

“Why not?” Ace demanded. Every reasonable argument about  _ danger _ and  _ trauma _ and  _ criminal records _ was pretty much rendered moot, considering Ace himself was being raised between  _ three _ pirate crews, and two of them were active. It would have been incredibly hypocritical as the captain of one of those crews. It also would have started a pointless argument because honestly? Ace was pretty well adjusted, all things considered.

So instead of any of  _ that, _ Shanks said, “Because Luffy lives with Makino, and Makino’s not a pirate.”

Ace considered this for a moment, then huffed. “Fine. When can we  _ meet _ Luffy, then?”

“Er.” It was right about then that Shanks realized he was not going to win this argument.

* * *

The answer to Ace’s question was, unfortunately,  _ longer than he would have liked. _ A week after the Buggy Pirates and company arrived on Ridfield, word came through the Network that  _ Monkey D. fucking Garp _ had returned to East Blue. This prompted the  _ Big Top _ and the  _ Red Force _ to engage in a tactical retreat to Tortoise Island, until such time as that asshole was gone.

So, by the time the Buggy Pirates, under the guise of a traveling circus, made it to Dawn Island it had been almost six months since the Akagami Kaizoku had left. Buggy was a little annoyed about this, but he was not dealing with the Marines’ _ hero _ if he could help it, especially not with Ace along.

_ (Edd War at ten and night terrors for weeks, nightmares for longer, and  _ **_nopenopenope,_ ** _ he was not willingly letting Ace anywhere near anything even potentially that kind of traumatizing.) _

So, it took them a while to get there. Buggy’s crew set up a performance area, with the aid of the suspicious and grouchy mayor, and Ace explored Fuusha Village and looked for a little boy in a familiar straw hat. He didn’t find Luffy, but he did find Party’s Bar, which Shanks had yammered on about almost as often.

It was quiet right now, in between meal times and with most people down to see the “traveling circus,” but a young woman with green hair and a kind face smiled at him from the bar when he walked in.

“Oh, hello. I don’t think I’ve seen you before-- looking for a late lunch?”

Ace was a little thrown by the question. “Uh. No.” He straightened up, giving a polite bow like Uncle Juushirou had taught him. “Sorry to intrude. My name is Ace. I’m looking for someone.”

The woman hummed consideringly. “I think there’s something going on in town-- you might have luck looking around there.”

Ace scrunched his nose. “Already did. He’s not there, so I thought he might be here.” The boy heaved himself onto a barstool, speaking softly now as though someone might overhear in the empty bar. “You’re Makino, right?”

“Yes, I am…”

“Shanks talked about you a lot,” he explained. 

“You know Captain Shanks?” She seemed surprised, and Ace snorted even though he knew Shanks and Buggy were reliably tight-lipped about his existence.

“‘Course I do. He’s my big brother.”

Makino blinked, taking in what Ace was sure was the complete lack of resemblance between him and the red-haired captain. Before she could decide if she would comment on it, because frankly Ace didn’t care to explain if she didn’t already get it, he said, “I’m lookin’ for Luffy. Shanks talked about him a lot, too. I wanna meet him, an’ make sure he knows it’s not his fault that Shanks is an idiot.”

At the mention of the younger boy, Makino seemed to wilt and her eyes grew sad. “Luffy… isn’t here anymore, I’m afraid.”

Ace’s eyes narrowed, protective instincts bristling for the boy he’d never met but was practically family. “What do you mean by, ‘not here?’”

“Garp-san… Luffy’s grandfather took him up the mountain, to live with some people there,” Makino’s voice had a touch of bitterness to it. “He was concerned that I  _ ‘allowed his precious grandson to fraternise with pirates.’” _

The ten-year-old went a bit pale at this information, mental images of the terrifying man who threw cannon balls in his brothers’ stories playing in his head. _ “He just took him?!” _

She nodded, clearly just as unhappy about it as Ace was. “It’s his right as Luffy’s grandfather.”

_ “Bullshit,” _ Ace muttered. That was  _ such bullshit. _ Stupid Marines, thinking they could just do whatever they wanted with people’s lives! 

Before Ace could work himself up into an explosion, the door swung open and familiar Haki wrapped itself around him. His mother always had impeccable timing.

“There you are, Ace.” Rouge smiled at the other woman. “And you must be Makino. My name is Rouge-- Shanks has told us a lot about you.”

“Mom,” Ace said urgently, spinning around on his stool, “Mom, Garp took Luffy! He took him up the mountain and dropped him with strangers!”

Brown eyes went icy, and when she spoke her voice was flat. Ace felt a bolt of vindictive glee-- someone was going to get their ass kicked! “Did he. Well. We’ll just have to do something about that.” Moving with a confidence that implied she could own the world if she wanted to, Rouge took a seat at the bar next to her son. “Please tell me what happened, Makino-san.”

* * *

_ Monkey D. fucking Garp _ had taken Luffy. Had taken him because Shanks had taken a liking to him, and Makino had let him around pirates, and now he wanted to be a pirate. To be  _ King of the Pirates, _ and find Roger’s treasure and the freedom sailing under the black flag would afford. 

So _ Monkey D. fucking Garp _ had taken Luffy from Makino, whom he loved and who loved him, and taken him up the mountain that none of the villagers dared climb because it was home to enormous animals like Richie, and  _ left him with mountain bandits. _

_ Monkey D. fucking Garp _ had dumped his seven-year-old grandson with mountain bandits,  _ weeks _ after a mountain bandit had  _ kidnapped and nearly killed him. _

_ Rouge was fucking furious. _

* * *

When mother and son got back to the  _ Big Top, _ the more sensitive members of the crew, excluding Buggy himself, quite reasonably hid behind the nearest solid object. Buggy felt them before he saw them, allowing his own Haki to surround theirs as he went to meet them in an attempt to find out  _ what the hell had happened. _

“Mohji,” Rouge asked with the calmness of a storm’s eye, “may we borrow Richie in the morning? It seems like it’s going to rain tonight.”

“Sure,” the First Mate agreed warily, “but, what for?”

“We gotta go up the mountain to get Luffy,” Ace growled. Though she shared his feelings on the matter, Rouge ran her fingers through her son’s messy hair in an attempt to calm him. There was nothing they could do until morning, not with the approaching weather.

“Why is Luffy up a mountain?” Cabaji asked in the tone of one who knew he was probably not going to like the answer.

_ “Monkey D. Garp,” _ Rouge spat the name with enough venom it made both men wince, “apparently decided that taking his grandson away from the only parental figure he’s ever known,  _ to live with a group of mountain bandits he’d never met before, _ mere  _ weeks _ after he was nearly  _ killed _ by a mountain bandit, was an excellent idea.”

“...That’s messed up,” Cabaji said, Mohji growling in agreement.

“He. Did.  _ What.” _ Buggy was beyond pissed. 

“I’m going to kill him,” Rouge said. “I don’t care that Roger respected him, I’m going to kill him. We’re getting Luffy in the morning, with Makino-san’s blessing. The next time I see Monkey D. Garp is the day he meets Davy Jones.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no! What sort of madness will they find dear Luffy involved in on Mt Corvo? Well, you all probably have some idea...
> 
> Next time! Daring rescue, Buggy having No Chill for adults who hurt kids, and Dadan the Long-Suffering Bandit Boss!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you have some time, let me know what you thought?


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